# Joplin vs Margo

The clearest difference is price: Joplin at Free against Margo's $19.99. Joplin also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Margo's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Joplin is free to download; Margo costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Joplin ships an update monthly, Margo every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Joplin | Margo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $19.99 |
| Rating | **[4.1 (476 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **476** | — |
| Positive reviews | 66.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Size | 73 MB | 8 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.6** | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Laurent Cozic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315599796) | [Marco Tini](https://appshunter.io/developer/544232459) |

## What reviewers say

### Joplin

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797)

A privacy-focused note-taking and to-do application that allows you to capture multimedia notes, organize them with notebooks and tags, and sync across devices. It offers end-to-end encryption and an offline-first approach for secure and accessible information management.

**Highlights:** Capture multimedia notes (speech, photos, videos, PDFs), Organize notes with notebooks and tags, Create to-dos and set reminders, End-to-end encryption for privacy, Cross-device synchronization (Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive), Offline-first access, OCR search for text within images and PDFs

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app
- 🔒 End-to-end encryption
- 👍 Excellent cross-platform support
- 👍 Intuitive Markdown support
- 👍 Flexible sync options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Buggy UI, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Slow performance at times
- 🐛 Confusing interface, not very intuitive

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues with WebDAV and Dropbox
- Crashes when creating new notes
- Keyboard issues, text getting obscured
- Rendering problems in dark mode
- Compatibility issues with older iOS versions

**Requested features**

- Add web clipper functionality on iOS
- Implement nested notebooks on iOS
- Allow password/biometric protection for notes
- Improve text editing experience on mobile
- Add more font and formatting options


### Margo

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/margo-markdown-editor/id6762869045)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Joplin free?

Joplin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Margo free?

Margo costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Joplin or Margo have ads?

Neither Joplin nor Margo shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Joplin or Margo?

Joplin ships an update monthly, and Margo every 2 weeks. Most recently, Joplin was updated on October 8, 2026 and Margo on September 30, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*